Did you know that we have expanded our clinical network?

Given that health surveillance has been such a hot topic in the media we thought it was the perfect time to update you on what’s been happening within this space here at Bodycare. This year, we have been very busy working on the expansion of our clinical network. With this comes a suite of new service capabilities which will allow us to better support you in the pre employment and health assessments space.  

We sat down with Carly Dormans, Head of Health Assessments at Bodycare, to find out what’s been happening…

Most people will know that Bodycare specialise in performing physio led health assessments. Why has the business decided to expand into the medical or doctor led space?

The decision to expand in to the medical assessment space to complement our functional offering was based on a number of factors. One of the key drivers for us was being able to provide a ‘one stop shop’ for our clients. Giving clients the ability to use one service provider across a range of occupational service offerings makes life easier for the them, whilst allowing for greater levels of consistency and governance through the use of our proprietary software.

Another reason that we decided to move into this space was that we were finding that a number of our clients were wanting to take a risk-based approach towards health assessments but also needing to be able to meet their legislated and/or industry obligations. By opening up our service capability we are able to further support our clients across the entire employee continuum – from pre employments to periodic medicals to health surveillance, our network of both onsite and offsite specialists are able to work with our clients to provide them with a cost effective health assessment solution.

With the network expansion are there additional types of assessments that Bodycare can now perform?
Absolutely. We now have greater capabilities to deliver industry specific health assessments such as Rail, Coal, Oil and Gas, in addition to assessments governed by Austroads and Worksafe etc which we are incredibly excited about.

The expansion of our network also provides a platform which complements our onsite health surveillance programs. We understand that coordinating onsite programs can sometimes be challenging due to operational requirements, however, the expansion of our clinical network provides greater flexibility to our clients in ensuring they continue to meet their health surveillance obligations by allowing their employees to attend our clinics if they were not available for onsite testing.

What excites you most about the health assessment space?
I think the fact that more and more employers are taking an active role in managing and monitoring the health of their employees. Pre-employment programs have traditionally provided employers with the information they need to determine whether or not a candidate is able to perform the inherent requirements of a role, and historically that’s where a lot of health assessment programs stopped. What we are seeing now as the health and safety focus in organisations matures, is that employers are looking to take a more holistic approach.

Given the digital nature of our health assessment programs, we have the ability to work with our clients to use the information gathered through their assessments, be it pre employments, health surveillance or periodic medicals, to drive health, safety and wellness activities across their organisations. From this data we are able to identify the need for company, site or job specific intervention based on the demographics and health profiles of the workforce. I think for me, this is one of the most exciting areas. Being able to partner with organisations, rather than just providing a transactional service is really satisfying as at the end of the day through this type of collaboration we are able to truly impact the lives of so many people.

Within the market, what are the emerging trends within the health assessment space?

Psychological health of employees is an area that we continue to receive a number of queries about. Employers are also more aware of the impacts of poor psychological health on their workforce and as a result of that are increasing focus on this from a health assessment perspective.

We are also seeing an increase in awareness of the importance of ongoing surveillance of employees, whether this is in the form of periodic medical assessments or health surveillance. The ability to monitor the ongoing health of your workforce and identify changes quickly is essential – not only for the health of employees, but also as a means of risk mitigation for the employer.

The last trend that comes to mind is around the use of risk-based health assessments. More and more we are working with companies who are wanting to create their own health assessments to ensure that they accurately mirror the inherent requirements of the roles within their workplace. What we are seeing with a number of the legislated medicals, is that our clients are looking to perform additional testing, particularly when the roles are manual in nature. For many of our clients, musculoskeletal injuries still account for the majority of their workplace claims which means that more rigorous musculoskeletal and functional testing needs to be undertaken. Clients are looking to supplement legislated or industry governance medicals to ensure that they are able to manage the health of their workforce more effectively.